If there was anything good to come from the aftermath of the Charlottesville riots and the left’s (and the Washington GOP establishment’s) hysterical reaction to President Donald Trump’s handling of the matter, it’s the fact that no one seems to be talking about Russia anymore.

It’s almost as though the media prefers to blather on about racism and Confederate statues rather than try and squeeze more borscht out of the already expended and dried-up Russian collusion turnip. The sudden sea change of media focus for the past week certainly must have something to do with what the talkers perceive as offering the most damage potential for the president, his credibility and future electoral prospects.

But regardless of the public opinion surveys taken today, tomorrow or next week, the Constitution sets the president’s term at four years, meaning there’s still well over a thousand days left until Americans officially weigh-in on Trump’s job performance. Unless he’s forcibly removed from office, Donald Trump will serve out those days by continuing to do as he sees fit in presiding over American government. That’s the law.

To think – or act – otherwise is to do irreparable damage to the country.

Kevin D. Williamson wrote in National Review, “We cannot allow the current state of affairs, in which the loss of a presidential election is met with ever wilder and more vicious attempts to immobilize the executive, to become the new normal. We cannot treat every lost election as an illegitimate one — which is precisely the direction in which the Democrats have us pointed at the moment.

“Our federal government already is dysfunctional, and that kind of banana-republic total-war opposition, carried on without rest or relief, will lead to a country that is truly ungovernable and not simply acting ungovernable for short-term political reasons. Driving Trump from office would hurt Republicans in the short term. It would hurt Democrats a great deal very soon after. And, much more important, it would do great violence to our constitutional order and our long and proud history of regular government.”

The balance of Williamson’s piece contains the writer’s usual snide insults to Trump and declares the president unfit for the office, etc… But at least it can be asserted that dedicated #NeverTrumper Williamson isn’t joining the reactionary crowd in calling for Trump’s head on a proverbial impeachment spike today.

Williamson is right on his main point, too: driving Trump from office without sufficient justification would tear the country apart. If you think the turmoil in Charlottesville and virtually every other parcel of territory with a university and/or a public park with a Confederate statue (or scheduled conservative speaker) has been unacceptable, you ain’t seen nothing yet as far as what would ensue if the political class pushes this anti-Trump tirade to its logical conclusion.

Thus far Trump supporting conservatives and populists have (perhaps unfortunately) been relatively passive in their tolerance of the left’s tantrums. These good people recognize that violence only begets more violence and to try and fight fire with fire would lead to a complete and total societal conflagration (a countrywide version of what we witnessed in Charlottesville).

Some have likened it to starting another American civil war. But whereas the conflict that developed in the first half of the 19th century was neatly divided along convenient geographical lines, today’s breakdowns are quite a bit more difficult to demarcate. For all you know your neighbor could be donning a Black bloc hood and heading towards the next public flare-up.

You just never can tell.

If we were to pinpoint an enemy based on his or her appearance we’re only falling into the trap set by the real racists out there – the white supremacists (KKK, etc…) and the Black Lives Matter contingent. These are the people who think they can separate friend from foe based on skin color, support for law enforcement or allegiance to the American flag.

Or in some cases, party affiliation.

There’s also plenty of evidence that Trump’s silent support is still quite strong, largely because it’s not just about him. Ross Kaminsky wrote in The American Spectator, “Most supporters of our current president who will walk through a wall of fire for him do it not because they love the way he governs but because they are beyond furious with the lies, malfeasance, and incompetence of the ‘other side’ writ large (which…includes some members of the president’s own party) and a belief deep in their bones that politicians of both parties have sold us down the river, for their own benefits, for decades. As far as that belief goes, you’d have to be a Swamp creature yourself to believe it’s wrong.

“They love Donald Trump for his refusing to give an inch to CNN or ‘Cryin’’ Chuck Schumer or even to Congressional Republican leadership. They love that he’s ‘fighting for us’; the specifics of what he’s fighting about are irrelevant.”

I wouldn’t go so far as to agree that specifics are “irrelevant” to Trump backers but Kaminsky’s point is well taken. Though I wholeheartedly believe most of Trump’s voters chose him because of the issues he championed, there was also the “protest” vote element against Hillary Clinton, the Democrats and the establishment.

While it’s true there was an “R” by Trump’s name on the ballot last November, Americans did not necessarily associate Trump with John McCain, Mitch McConnell, Mitt Romney or Paul Ryan. Similarly, they didn’t see Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio or Rand Paul either. They saw Trump as a tough-talking outsider who could upset the applecart in Washington.

Due to the immense growth in power of the federal government since World War II, Washington has become more than just the symbolic epicenter of the out-of-touch ruling class. When decisions for local highway bridges or environmental violations were handed down from the nation’s capital the people started sensing that government doesn’t represent them anymore.

This isn’t what the Founders intended. Though the voting franchise was severely restricted in the earliest days of our republic the Constitution’s authors envisioned the citizenry being in close contact with those who governed them. It’s the type of personal relationship that carries with it its own credibility and legitimacy.

This reality no longer exists. Polls show a healthy percentage of folks can’t even name their representative much less keep tabs on what he or she does or where he or she stands on individual issues. All they see is “R” and “D”.

They also notice the taxes being withdrawn from their paychecks and their local infrastructure crumbling. There’s a seething anti-establishment anger simmering just below the surface. It pops up in places like Charlottesville in the form of “white nationalists” and Black bloc thugs, but these groups don’t represent the common citizen.

Liberals in particular are making a grave mistake by failing to “condemn” their own violent racist thugs.

John Fund wrote in National Review, “Sadly, a quarter century after the fall of Communism, too many leftists are still ignoring Orwell and refusing to acknowledge the reality of left-wing brutality. In the wake of Charlottesville, eyewitnesses and reporters agreed that while the violence was instigated by neo-Nazis and white nationalists, it was countered with bloody counterattacks by left-wingers and black-shirted anarchists wearing masks. There was a clear asymmetric outcome to the violence: A white nationalist mowed down protestors with his car, killing a 32-year-old woman.

“But that didn’t mean there were no victims of left-wing violence. Antifa — short for ‘anti-fascist’ — protestors came armed with pepper spray, bricks, and clubs. Antifa members believe that racist speech is violence and that they must counter it physically, not just oppose it with rhetoric or better ideas.”

Fund’s story revealed that members of the media were themselves victims of the leftists’ violent propensities. Fund also shamed the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights for its failure to officially condemn the Antifa thugs that came armed (with urine bombs among other things) to cause trouble.

The media and forces of the left might be taking a break from bloviating over Russia but in the interim they may have found an issue that is not only attention-grabbing to the average American, but also more potent towards achieving what they’re ultimately after – the total destruction of the Trump presidency.